At national conference, DFOs from across college football get real on NIL

Nothing exemplified the inconsistency of NIL policy within college athletics than what the speakers wore on stage. Seated on the dais of Star Ballroom B at the Omni in Frisco, Texas, last Thursday were an NIL vendor, three senior administration/operations professionals representing different Power 4 programs, and the executive director of a Group of 5 collective. 

One DFO donned a baseball cap bearing the logo of his school's collective. Seated directly to his left, a second DFO quipped, "I would be fired on the spot if I wore that."

Such is life for college sports professionals, where the thing that occupies more and more of their time, efforts and headspace by the day is governed by a set of rules so flimsy that what clothing accessory a DFO can wear varies from school to school. 

The five men were on stage to lead a discussion on NIL -- titled "The Elephant in the Room" -- before more than a hundred of their peers at the National Football Operations Organization's annual clinic, held last week in suburban Dallas. 

The discussion, which was not recorded and where FootballScoop was granted exclusive access, illuminated just how pervasive NIL has become in every facet across college athletics. All involved were granted anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the discussion. 

For instance, the DFO who'd have been fired for wearing his collective's gear said his school has started devoting extra personnel to chaperone the post-game handshake. They had to do so, he said, because they caught two schools tampering with their players just moments after the game ended. In the audience, a DFO at a Group of 5 school echoed that sentiment, saying his school's basketball coach has considered ending the post-game handshake altogether due to that very reason.

The DFO of another program transitioning conferences shared his staff's plan for preemptively combatting tampering; the school's camps this summer that will, in part, have guest staff from other programs. The host team's players will not be allowed to attend or work the camp and their workouts will be concluded before the start of those daily camps.

At the same time, those in the room recognized that tampering is a two-way street. "Let's call it like it is, who hasn't tampered?" the Group of 5 collective director said. "We get calls all the time, 'Can this guy play for you?'"

Interestingly enough, only two staff members at the meeting raised their hands to emphasize that their Power 4 program had not tampered with any players.

One DFO on stage, the one who was not fired for representing his collective, said his school is in the process of hiring staff purely to monitor and evaluate the financial market within college football. His school recently lost a starter who commanded twice as much money in the spring portal than if the same player had left a few months earlier. "There's better players in January, there's more money in May," he said.

Additionally, numerous DFOs acknowledged that the NIL marketplace has added an additional layer to their already demanding jobs: fundraising. 

Some schools are even having their assistant DFOs be largely responsible for active fundraising and seeking out partnership opportunities in the NIL space. 

The portal is not all negative, however. The vendor represented a company who arranged for college athletes to coach youth flag football games on campus during the offseason. 

One DFO, whose school was a client, said that arrangement has built relationships between players and donors. For instance, one donor recently paid players to appear at his child's birthday party -- after a single offensive lineman had formed a genuine rapport with the donor, who then in turn invited the entire OL group to attend the child's birthday party and then turned it into an NIL opportunity for the players. 

Beyond that, the arrangement has fostered relationships that will benefit the players after graduation. Similarly, the need to constantly re-recruit their roster has led one school to regularly bring former players and alums back on campus to build relationships with the current roster. 

"A lot of these kids choose to stay because we're pouring into their life outside of football," he said. 

Still, there's no denying the pervasive influence of money. 

"The hard part about it is, the kids aren't asking about it, it's the parents," one DFO said. "They don't want to tour a dorm room, they don't want to meet with a professor, they want to talk about money."

"Our stance when NIL came out was we will not recruit a player who asks about money," said a DFO representing a highly regarded academic institution. "That lasted six months. Everyone was asking about money."

The Group of 5 collective director said his school has lost nearly two dozen players to the portal, most of whom are transferring to be backups. Three players who had the opportunity to do the same but opted to stay all got drafted. 

Still, that pitch doesn't stop the majority of players from taking the immediate payday. "We've got guys on our team offered $250,000, and we know they can't play," he said. "We're offering $500 a month. How do you compete with that?"

For professionals in charge of handling logistics and extinguishing problems before they appear, the lack of clarity across NIL has created issues.

At some schools, the athletics department and all things NIL are separated from an iron wall like East Berlin and West Berlin. At others, operations and NIL have offices down the same hallway.

One DFO, who would be fired for wearing his collective's logo, has facilitated multiple fundraisers for his collective with school personnel present. He's had to coach guest speakers on how to endorse the collective without explicitly asking donors to contribute to the collective with coaches and players present. 

The Group of 5 collective director said his entity has to pay Learfield Communications for permission to use their own school's logos, and they will then use those logos to compete directly with Learfield for corporate sponsorships.

Yeah, it's confusing for all, too.

At schools where athletics department personnel can't mingle with their collective, it can create a professional hazard when players come to them with problems.

One representative indicated the school's collective had maintained an 501c3 element as a non-profit but a different arm of the collective always was structured as an for-profit entity.

An additional complication in terms of general funding but specifically relating to NIL, operating budgets and Title IX is the ongoing House vs. NCAA class-action antitrust lawsuit.

Multiple outlets have reported on the progress in that case, in which the plaintiffs are seeking to show the NCAA is breaking antitrust laws by capping or mandating what is/is not allowable for student-athletes to profit off their respective names, images and likenesses.

Attendees at the meetings were told that a settlement of the suit would see the NCAA bearing a large portion of settlement monies but that individual institutions could also be asked to contribute "$20 million" or more as part of the settlement.

Said one attendee, "For us as a Group of 5, we’re just waiting. If they come and tell us to pay $20 million, we might as well shut the athletic department down."